Roy Upton has been trained in both traditional Western and Chinese herbalism, and is a professional member of the American Herbalists Guild (Registered Herbalist, AHG). His background includes extensive study with various Native American and non-Native herbalists, study in the ethnobotany of the United States Virgin Islands, and seven years of clinical practice, followed by a three-year clinical internship with Michael Tierra and training at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai, China. Roy is the executive director and editor of the American Herbal Pharmacopoeia® and is also a member of the Standards Committee of the American Herbal Products Association. Both of these organizations are dedicated to developing industry-wide quality control standards for botanical supplements. Roy was also co-founder, past president and is currently vice president of the American Herbalists Guild, and he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Botanical Medicine Academy--two organizations dedicated to the development of professional standards and advanced training opportunities for professional herbalists.
Roy is general manager of Planetary Herbals. He writes extensively and is the author of St. John's Wort and Echinacea in the Keats Publishing Good Herb Series. He is co-author of the Botanical Safety Handbook published by CRC Press--a landmark text of herbal safety. He also lectures extensively and serves on the editorial and advisory boards of numerous publications and organizations. For many years, Roy led grassroots political efforts to secure passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), protecting the rights of consumers to continue to access herbal supplements. He also has been a leader in advancing the quality control of the herbal products industry.